Yesterday Must Have Been An Auspicious Day

Posted by Shelly

Buddhists in Hong Kong pay homage to the gods that inhabit the land. This is done by leaving offerings of food and drink and by burning incense and fake paper money. In return for leaving these gifts for the gods, the Buddhists are asking for the gods to bless the building and the people in it. Depending on how fervent the believer this ritual can take place anywhere between twice a month and several times a day.


I visited a printing company a few months ago. The salesperson who gave me the tour introduced me to his boss who was burning the fake paper money in the hallway of the building. He told me that she did this every time she went through the entrance of the office as a wish for lots of good business to come their way.

As an earlier blog entry mentioned, my co-worker's mother-in-law came and blessed our office shortly after it opened. She brought several foods, incense and money. She lit the money right under the fire alarm. There was plenty of smoke, but fortunately th alarm did not go off requiring 20 floors of office workers to evacuate.

Our apartment building has incense lighting stations in two different areas of the stairwells (on the top floor and a mid-level floor). As far I can tell, incense is lit here twice a month.


Outside of buildings you can often see a small shrine area built into the foundation. This is where the offerings can be left. Common foods to leave for the gods are deep fried pork, steamed yellow cake and fruit.

This weekend must have been an important time to make offerings. On Saturday when I was walking around the track at The Jockey Club, two grounds keepers were offering the most interesting offering I have seen to date - 2 cans of Pepsi Max, 2 bottles of Beer, several Snickers and other snack foods. The beverages were opened (who knows, maybe Chinese Buddhist gods don't have thumbs). By the time I had circled the track a second time, they were done burning the money and had taken the offering away. On Sunday night while walking around the neighborhood I saw 6 groups of people out burning incense or money. This morning on the way to the bus there were several food offerings that had been left out overnight.